Method for making a downwardly tapered container



Patented Mar. 7, 1933 PATENT oFFIcE i LESLIE M; HILE, F .BENTON HARBOR, MICHIGAN METHOIDFOR IVLAKING DOW'NWARDLY TAPERED CON'JIAINIEIBV Application filed July 2,

This invention relates toV wirebound baskets or containers, and more particularly to methods for the production of rectangular baskets or containers having flat side walls which preferably taper downwardly, whereby rectangular wirebound baskets of this kind can be nested together for shipment or storage.

Generally stated, the object of the inv-ention is to provide a novel and improved method ofconstruction, whereby Va downwardly tapered basket of this general character is formed from a straight blank, a blank which is Hat and on which the wires extend along parallel straight lines, but whereby, nevertheless, when this preliminary blank is folded, the ultimate basket or container will taper downwardly, as stated.

It is also an object to provide certain steps in the method of construction tending to increase the general eiiciency and thedesirability of a basket or container 0f this particular construction.

To the foregoing and other useful ends,

the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. l is a perspective of a basket or container produced by the method embodying Y the principles of the invention, with one lower corner portion shown broken away for convenience of illustration;

Figs. 2 and 3 arev fragmentary perspective views of the ends of the cleats;

" Fig. 4 is a plan view of the preliminary blank from which the said basket or container is made;

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view of the upper rim of the basket.

As thus illustrated, the invention cornprises the provision of a plurality of sheets or side wall sections l, 2, 3 and 4, as shown in Fig. 4.- of the drawing, these sheets or sections being tapered toward the same side of 4 the blank, which results in a downwardly tapered basket. The upper cleats 5 and the binding wire 6 are secured by staples 7 to the said sheets, to the larger ends thereof, these staples extending crosswise of the wire and through the cleats and sheets and being 1930.` serial No. 470,920.

clinched on the innersides of the sheets or walls. A middle binding wire 8 is secured by staples 9 to the sheets -or walls, these staples being clinched on the inner sidesl of the walls. At their smaller ends, which is the bottom of the basket, the cleats 10 are secured to the inner sides of the *sheets by staples 1l, which straddle the binding wire 12 and which extend through the sheets-and y cleats and are yclinched on the inner sides of said cleats, if desired. Thus,the blank has outside cleats 5 at the top of the basket, and inside cleats 10 at the bottom of the basket, but the three wires 6, 8 and 12 are all on the outer surface of the basket, when the preliminary blank is folded to produce the ultimate basket.

It will be seen that the ends of vthecleats are tongued and grooved to interlock at the A corners of the basket, and the edges of the sheets overlap at the corners of the basket, as shown.

l/Vhen the blank isfolded into basket form,

there will be slack wire portions, these being portions of the wires 8 andl2, at the corners 75 of the basket, and these slack portions are twisted. as shown at 13 in Fig. 2 of the drawing. In this way, the slack in the wire is taken up to tighten the wires at the corners of the basket, but there is no slack inthe S'; wire 6, of course, and this wire extendsf smoothly and tightly around the corners of the basket where the cleats interlock at their ends. Obviously, the slack in the wires 8 and 12 can be taken up either'before or after the 85 blank is folded into basket form. In either case it is true that the method starts with a perfectly straight wirebound box blank and passes Vthrough the stage of a blank that in l effect is curved or distorted by the taking up of slack in one or more of the wires, whereby to pro-duce the downwardly vtapered basket as the ultimate productof the method. Thus the method starts with a perfectly straight wirebound boX blank, and terminates in a downwardly tapered basket or container. In this Way, a preliminary blank is madeto be converted -into a downwardly tapered basket or container, and yet theblank is 'straight and the wires thereon are straight, thus facilpreferably a itating the making of blanks of this kind by machinery, as the blank can be fed in a straight line through a stapling machine constructed in any suitable known or approved manner, for stapling the wires and cleats to the sheets or walls of the blank. The bottom wall 14 may be provided to rest on the inner cleats 10, as shown, and this bottoni wall may be fastened to said cleats, in any suitable oi' desired manner, or it may be left loose, if dcsired. v

It will be seen that the cleats 5 extend above the walls 1, 2, 3 and Zi, so that the upper edges' Thus it will be seen that the invention pro! vides a novel and eticient method for producing downwardly tapered baskets or other containers, by using a perfectly straight blank, wirebound ,blank having straight parallel binding wires.

l/Vliat I claim as iny invention is 1. VThe method of making a downwardly tapered rectangular basket or container, coniprisiiig the fabricating of a straight wirebound flexible blank, having straight parallel continuous binding-wires projecting at the opposite ends of the straight flat blank thus f formed, with spaces between the flat sections of the blank, folding the blank into container or basket forni, taking up slack in one or more of the wires at said spaces, while maintaining another wire without slack and under tension at the upper corners of the container, causing the container to taper downwardly with flat sides inclined outwardly.

2. A. method as speciied in claim 1, comprising the tapering of therblank sections toward their endsfthat are at the bottom yof the container, whereby sai-d spaces taper in :the opposite direction, finally causing the adjacent edges of the sections to meet at the corners of the container.

3. A method as specified in claim 1, comprising the attachment of outsi-de cleats tc "the top or outer side -of the blank, along the edge of the blank that forms the' top of the container, projecting the ends of the cleats beyond the edges of the sections, securing said other binding wires to said cleats, there- "after causing said cleats to interengage at the corners of the container, thereby causing said tensioning of the wire around the ends of the cleats, and thus maintaining said interengageinent tli-ereof, and securing inside. cleats to the lower edges of the sections, with the slack taken up in oiie'wire holding these inside cleatsin engagement at their ends.

4. The method of making a downwardly tapered rectangular basket or container, coinprising the fabricating of a straight wirebound flexible blank, having straight parallel cont-inuous binding wires projecting at the yopposite ends of the straight flat blank thus formed, with spaces between the Hat sections of the blank, folding the blank into container or basket form, taking up slack in one or more of the wires at said spaces, after the blank lis folded into basket forni, while maintaining another wire without slack and under tension at the upper corners of the container, causingthe container to taper downwardly with flat sides inclined outwardly.

`5. The method of'inaking a downwardly tapered rectangular basket Ior container, comprising the fabricating of a straight wirebound flexible blank, having straight parallel continuous binding wires projecting at the opposite ends'of the straight flat blank thus formed, with spaces between the flat sections of the blank, folding the blank into container or basket` form, taking up slack in one or more of the wires at said spaces, before the blank is folded into basket forni, while maintaining another wire without slack and under tension at th-e upper corners of the conL tainer, causing the container to taperV downwardly with flat sides inclined outwardly.

Specification signed this 23rd day of'July,

LESLE M. HILE. Y 

